Photo by John Russell
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jeffery Taylor scored 16 points, had 10 rebounds and a career-high six assists to lead Vanderbilt over Arkansas 75-58 on Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams.
“I was really proud of our team’s effort today,” said head coach Kevin Stallings. “I thought we kept fighting and playing hard until finally we made enough of a run where we got the game in our favor.
“I really thought our defense in the second half was really good. To hold them to 23 points in the second half was significant. I’m happy to get back to .500 in the league. To go from 1-5 to 8-8 is quite an accomplishment.”
Brad Tinsley had 15 points and Jermaine Beal added 11 for Vanderbilt (19-11, 8-8), which finished the regular season with three straight victories. A.J. Ogilvy scored 12 points and also added 10 rebounds.
Vanderbilt scored the first five points of the game and never trailed. The Commodores led by as many as 10 in the first half and then built their advantage to 58-47 in the second when they held the Razorbacks scoreless for a 6:08 stretch.
Taylor’s free throws with 3 minutes to play gave the Commodores their largest lead up to that point at 65-53.
“We were real balanced today,” Stallings added. “We’ve gotten good play from our bench. Lance [Goulbourne], Charles [Hinkle], and all of those guys did well today, highlighted by Festus [Ezeli’s] performance. He played really well for us.”
Rontei Clarke made five 3-pointers and led Arkansas (14-15, 2-14) with 20 points. Courtney Fortson added 18 points.
